Landmark Business Will Relocate

October 9, 2002|By Sam Tranum Staff Writer

Boynton Beach — After almost 50 years selling boards and trusses at the corner of Woolbright Road and Federal Highway, Gulf Stream Lumber is selling its property to a developer and relocating, company president Dennis Vlassis said.

The company is moving to Riviera Beach to be closer to the region's fastest-growing areas, Vlassis said. His 15-acre site is being sold to GoCo Inc., a Delray Beach firm that plans to build a mixed residential-commercial project. City officials say the change fits perfectly with their vision for the area.

"It'll attract a lot of disposable income to the area. You'll have a whole lot more people," Community Redevelopment Agency Director Doug Hutchinson said.

Surrounded by fences and hedges, Gulf Stream Lumber's low, white building with a red-lettered sign has been a mainstay on Federal Highway. For years, it specialized in sales to contractors and other building-trade professionals.

Vlassis said his father-in-law, Harold Graves Jr., opened the lumberyard in 1953. In its early days, the company sold to many builders in Broward and Miami-Dade counties. These days, about 70 percent of its business is in Palm Beach County.

The company's customers are still moving north, following the building boom. Many of them are working in the northern part of Palm Beach County, according to Vlassis.

So Gulf Stream is going with them.

Vlassis said he plans to break ground for the location on Blue Heron Boulevard before the end of the year. He hopes to open the store by next spring or early summer.

"Essentially, we're moving as the development of South Florida moves," Vlassis said.

Assistant City Manager Dale Sugerman, who handles economic development issues for the city, said he was not aware of any other Boynton Beach businesses that were moving north with the building boom.

Vlassis said he hopes the nearly 100 people who work for him in Boynton Beach will continue to work at the location 20 miles north. He said he planned to commute from his home in Ocean Ridge.

Vlassis agreed with Hutchinson and Mayor Gerald Broening that a mixed-used development would fit the nearby neighborhood better than his lumberyard does. The location is a few blocks from the Intracoastal Waterway and close to Interstate 95.